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The Museum’s Collections document the fate of Holocaust victims, survivors, rescuers, liberators, and others through artifacts, documents, photos, films, books, personal stories, and more. Search below to view digital records and find material that you can access at our library and at the Shapell Center.

Quick pan of buildings at Santa Maria di Leuca DP camp, brief shot of two women and a Red Cross truck. Hannah plays with her son in the water at the beach, Moshe walks toward camera holding the baby. Hannah and Menachem play outdoors on a blanket with various toys, headphones. Hannah and another friend (seen in Film ID 4155 at 6:02) make faces for the cameraman.

02:11 City EXTs, building with British flag, plaque/crest in Bari city (note the fountain of Cavour Avenue in later shots). Men in uniform and large crowd of protestors gathered on street. Young people stand on others’ shoulders, making speeches. A handcrafted sign with a swastika and British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin’s face: “Successore di Hitler: Mr. Bevin.” Anti-British demonstration in the streets, bicycles, uniformed men, Red Cross truck in a public square, etc. 04:45 Signs in Hebrew, English and Italian: “Open the gates,” “Basta con le […] inocente […] Palestina!!”, etc. More processions of people with signs protesting the British policy against immigration into Palestine and Bevin’s outspoken comments in March 1947.

Menachem Shapiro was born in the DP camp Santa Maria di Leuca, Italy on June 21, 1946 to Hannah Buz (b. 1912) and Moshe Shapiro (b.1906) both from Shavli, Poland. Hannah and Moshe and had one daughter, Rivka, born in 1938. Moshe worked at a wood processing plant. Hannah and Moshe were sent to the Shavli ghetto in July 1941; Riva was sent to Auschwitz in November 1943 during the children's roundup; she died there. Moshe was sent to Dachau or a subcamp of Dachau and oversaw the building of roads for the SS. After liberation, Moshe traveled via Greece to Italy in a jeep with a friend from the Beitar youth movement, Dov Similansky. In Italy they met other family members who survived. Moshe, Hannah, and Menachem legally emigrated to Palestine in February 1948. They spent the next two years living with their father’s sister who had immigrated to Palestine in the 1920s. Moshe Shapiro probably acquired his film and still picture camera on the black market in Italy.

Moshe Shapiro may have acquired his motion picture and still camera equipment on the black market. He recorded these 9.5 mm reels of film of family life and the events unfolding around him in DP camp and Palestine from 1946 to 1949. Moshe's son, Menachem, came into possession of the family materials and donated them to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in December 2015.

Also in Menachem Shapiro Collection

CU of toddler Menachem Shapiro in driver’s seat of a truck. EXT of the truck with a star and young men, playing and posing for the camera. 01:05 INT, Menachem and another baby play with a ball. 02:22 Outside, the toddlers run after birds, Menachem picks fruit with his parents, Hannah and Moshe, and experiments with walking. VAR shots of children at play outdoors in the street, and adults with bicycles, smiling. Three small children seated on a blanket and in a crib (at DP camp?). 06:22 Children hold hands outside the stairwell. 07:03 “Gelati” stand, children eat ice cream, ECU of Menachem with a small dog in the BG. CU of the children with stained, messy faces. Men sweep outdoors.

Hannah and baby exit a home (Israel?). Baby pushes a pram. 09:11 MS, crowd of people on the street, palm trees in BG. Menachem (?) plays with a collection of porcelain dolls and rides a carousel [poor VQ]. 10:18 Children play on a balcony (in Israel?).
11:34 MS, a ship on fire [probably the Altalena in June 1948], billowing smoke.
12:16 Child (sister of Menachem?) plays on the balcony, rides a tricycle, and pushes a toy wheelbarrow; the flowerpots contain mini flags of Israel. Some celebration (nursery school graduation?), women carry flowers and children eat an assortment of desserts.

Two children dressed in costume dance and play on a balcony (possibly Menachem’s cousins). 06:46 Pan, harbor with cranes, Moshe walks in front of the camera. Children walk and ride their bicycles on a residential street with apartments (Israel?).
07:15 Airplane, well-dressed people waiting in line to board, El Al marked on portable stairs. People in FG wave to the camera.
08:12 [poor VQ] Dark, Moshe with two small pails in either hand, INT shots. CU of Menachem in a carriage, the baby and Hannah play.
08:49 Marching on the street (possibly Independence Day in Israel in 1949), parade, women in uniform, sailors, crowds of spectators (more of this parade in RG-60.1805)

Continuation of parade [in RG-60.1803 at 08:49 - probably 1949 Independence Day in Israel] with Israeli soldiers, a marching band, someone in the crowd holding an Israeli flag, airplane flyover, more defense forces. 12:19 Circular pan of harbor, clouds (Israel?). Moshe in suit steps down off of a ship. 12:50 Family members walk towards the camera, monkeys at zoo, children play on a swing. Women on patio, baby feeds a small dog and plays with children outside a home (probably in Israel).

Dark shots of Menachem, INTs. Street scene in Bari, Italy, horse and buggy, Hannah pushes Menachem in pram. Nice group shots of local children (Italian? DPs?) on a residential street. Moshe makes a face to the camera. Window displays of dolls, Hannah and Menachem walk on the city street towards a truck marked “Sica, Milano.”
01:35 Men carry rafts over their heads and lower them into the water at a beach near Santa Maria di Leuca DP camp in Italy. VAR shots of Menachem, Moshe and Hannah at DP camp in Italy (similar atmospheric shots as Film ID 4152). Barracks/huts. Hannah feeds baby with a spoon, rests on a cot, bathes the boy in a small tub, towel him off, play and feed him again. Menachem plays outside with small pots and learns to walk. New babies lined up in carriages at the DP camp in Italy.
11:04 Hannah washes clothes in a tub, hangs them on a clothes line. A friend holds up baby Menachem in a toy rocking horse, Hannah feeds him a cookie. Hannah smokes and pushes Menachem in his carriage on the beach (also in Italy?). A young woman walks away from camera toward the huts. Woman drinks from a bottle nearby a table of provisions. CUs of Menachem in carriage.

A large group gathers outside in a field carrying hand-made flags of Israel and other countries. The demonstration begins, people march in uniform, carrying signs in Hebrew. (See brief shot of same event in RG-60.1811)

Young boys outside on a patio, waving Israeli flags, goats, and a dog. The boys play in a field (in Israel?). Man from behind inside a booth. 01:16 Hannah holds newborn Menachem. 01:26 The Rabbi performs his B’rit Milah, INTs. 02:21 A group swims in a pool, picks fruit, hikes in the desert [some dark scenes and sprocket damage]. Hannah blows bubbles outside.

Very brief shot of protest/parade in a field, probably in Italy (like Film ID 4154). DPs inflate large rafts on a beach in DP camp in Italy and carry Israeli flags. 07:05 Menachem in his carriage with a still camera. Young men participate in formal ceremony or initiation. The men on the rafts on the water preparing for trip to Palestine.
08:30 Hannah squeezes into her baby’s toy rocking horse. Pan of the DP camp in Italy, huts. Moshe with Menachem - good CUs. Friend makes faces and shows off her baby on camera (possibly Chaim Springer and his parents). More shots of Moshe and Menachem. 09:47 Man polishes shoes and walks a small lizard caught on a rope. The family of three at leisure. Menachem and Hannah make faces for camera, Menachem plays with his father, CUs.
11:03 Demonstration, parades and DPs, men and women in uniform carry signs in Hebrew and English, possibly a protest in Bari, Italy (like RG-60.1804). Children stand under sign: “Down with British Terror in Palestine!” 12:05 Children parading, filmed through a wire fence. A large crowd gathers to hear speeches by three men. Sign: “UNRRA Camp.” A smaller group assembled in a field, with flags.

Learn about over 1,000 camps and ghettos in Volume I and II of this encyclopedia, which are available as a free PDF download. This reference provides text, photographs, charts, maps, and extensive indexes.